The Haffenreffer Brewery, established in 1870, was a former brewer in

Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts Jamaica Plain is a neighborhood of in the City of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Settled by Puritans seeking farmland to the south, it was originally part of the former Town of Roxbury, now also a part of the City of Boston. The commu ...

. The first Haffenreffer bottles were plate mold bottles and were produced by Karl Hutter of New York and had the traditional lightning stop tops. According to Haffenreffer company records later in 1876 the Haffenreffer Brewery contracted with Dean Foster and Company of Boston to aid in the production of bottles for the brewery and the growing demand. Starting in 1893 all Haffenreffer bottles were produced with Karl Hutter stoppers. Haffenreffer Private Stock, a legacy of the original Haffenreffer & Co. product line, is a brand of

malt liquor Malt liquor is a type of mass market beer with high alcohol content, most closely associated with North America. Legally, it often includes any alcoholic beverage with 5% or more alcohol by volume made with malted barley. In common usage, it ...

that ceased production in 2013. It had several nicknames: "The Green Monster", (referring to the left field wall at Fenway Park), "Haffenwrecker" and "The Green Death" all due to relatively high alcohol content. It was notable due to the Rebus puzzles under the bottle cap, and due to the label recommendation of consuming it "on the rocks", or over ice.

History

The Haffenreffer Brewery was founded by Rudolph Frederick Haffenreffer, a German immigrant who arrived in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

after the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. Following his death on March 8, 1929, the business was turned over to his sons, Rudolf F. Haffenreffer Jr. (1874-1954) and Theodore Carl Haffenreffer (1880-1956). The brewery was subsequently run by other members of the Haffenreffer family, including Rudolph Frederick Haffenreffer III (1902-1991), his brother Carl W. Haffenreffer (1906-1999), and their first cousin, Theodore Carl Haffenreffer III (1917-2008). The brewery closed in 1965 (at which time, brands like Haffenreffer Lager Beer, Pickwick Ale and Pickwick Bock Beer became the property of the Narragansett Brewing Company) having survived

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...

and operating for nearly a century, leaving Massachusetts without a brewery for the first time in 300 years.

Haffenreffer complex

The entire Haffenreffer complex was redeveloped by the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation, which owns and operates it today. The

Boston Beer Company The Boston Beer Company is an American brewery founded in 1984. Boston Beer Company's first brand of beer was named Samuel Adams after Founding Father Samuel Adams, an American revolutionary patriot. Since its founding, Boston Beer has started se ...

, brewer of Samuel Adams beer, has been an anchor tenant and investor since the mid-1980s, and offers tours of the brewery there. The main brewery building is included on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. The top of the

smokestack A chimney is an architectural ventilation structure made of masonry, clay or metal that isolates hot toxic exhaust gases or smoke produced by a boiler, stove, furnace, incinerator, or fireplace from human living areas. Chimneys are typic ...

from the old Haffenreffer Brewery crumbled and had been partially restored to current building codes- so the letters on its side read FENREFFER BREWERS for more than 30 years. In late 2016, a local artist installed a circular steel frame to the top with the letters HAF, which restored the smokestack to its full name. Among those businesses sharing it with Boston Beer are: * Bella Luna Restaurant *

Bikes Not Bombs Bikes Not Bombs is a Boston, Massachusetts based nonprofit that uses the bicycle as a vehicle for social change by recycling donated bicycles, training young people to fix their own bikes and become employable mechanics and sending thousands of bic ...

* City Life/Vida Urbana * Children's Music Center of JP * Keshet * Kenyon Woodworking * JP School of Dance * Mike's Fitness * The Parent Review * ULA Cafe * Women in the Building Trades

References

{{Malt liquors Beer brewing companies based in Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Boston 1870 establishments in Massachusetts Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Defunct brewery companies of the United States Defunct companies based in Massachusetts Jamaica Plain, Boston National Register of Historic Places in Boston

History

Haffenreffer complex

See also

References